TED演讲:语法的分界线 牛津逗号(1)

 　　Say you're helping¹ plan a friend's party, and he sends you a text asking you to "bring Bob, a DJ and a clown." 假设你准备帮你的朋友组织一个聚会，你朋友给你发了一条短信要你记得叫上鲍勃，一个DJ和一个小丑。

　　You're pretty impressed. You had no idea Bob was so multitalented. 你感到好惊讶。你感叹于鲍勃这个人可以如此多才多艺。

　　But when the day arrives, it turns out that he's not, and you were supposed to bring three different people. 不过当那天到来时，你发现并不是这样的，你应该叫上三个不同的人。

　　As you and Bob sit at the silent, clownless party, it occurs to you that the confusion could've been avoided simply by using another comma after DJ. 当你和鲍勃在这个无音乐，无小丑的聚会中尴尬着，你意识到，其实这样的尴尬是本可以避免的，那条短信中只要在DJ后面加上一个逗号，误会就消除了。

　　This final comma in a list, placed directly before the main conjunction, such as and, or, or nor, is called the serial² comma, or Oxford³ comma. 那个直接放在主要连词，比如and和or之前句子的最后一个逗号，我们称之为连续逗号或者是牛津逗号。

　　And it has long driven grammar nerds crazy because even major language institutions can't agree on whether it should be used. 这个玩意对语法痴迷分子的折磨由来已久，因为即使是那些权威的语言机构对于它是否应该被正式使用，也无法给出统一意见。

　　Ironically, the Oxford comma is more common in the United States,  讽刺的是，牛津逗号反而在美国使用的更加普遍，

　　where it's recommended by the MLA, the Chicago Style Manual, and the US Government Printing Office, though not by the AP Style Book. 因为它被一些主流机构推荐，如现代语言协会，芝加哥文体手册还有美国政府印刷办公室，但是美国联合印刷手册不在其中。

　　In the UK and other English-speaking countries, most style guides do not support the comma's use, with the exception of its namesake, the Oxford University Press. 在英国以及一些英语国家，很多的文体指南并不是很支持逗号在除了人名表达之外的地方使用，如牛津大学出版社。

　　Why not use the serial comma? 为什么不使用连续逗号呢？

　　One of the main arguments is that the conjunction is usually enough to denote a separate entity⁴. 论据之一就是连词本身已经足够可以分割不同的名词实体了。

　　And where it's not, like in your ill-fated invite list, changing the order of terms will usually do the job. 其实就拿这张倒霉的邀请卡来说，改变几个名词的次序也于事无补。

　　Journalists also dislike the comma because it takes up precious space and can make text look cluttered⁵. 新闻工作者也不待见逗号，除了占用宝贵的空格之外，它还会使文章看上去杂乱无章。

　　Sometimes, it can even create confusion of its own. 有时候，它还会带来理解上的误会。

　　For example, if your friend had asked for "Bob, a DJ and a puppy," you'd probably figure out that they're three separate beings. 比如，如果你朋友要你叫上鲍勃，一个DJ和一条狗。你可能会认为他们是三个东西。

　　Puppies are cute, but they don't make great DJs. 狗狗即便可爱，但是它们也不能是DJ。

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

5 cluttered   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• The room is cluttered up with all kinds of things. 零七八碎的东西放满了一屋子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The desk is cluttered with books and papers. 桌上乱糟糟地堆满了书报。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》